Eating Exercise Calories....ugh!
hollymurphy4
Posts: 122
Mentally I can not make myself eat the calories I gain from exercise. I don't know how to get past this. Today I didn't exercise, but I have been cleaning the house all day which is burning calories, but I just can't make myself eat more. If I ate more I would feel like I was defeating the purpose of exercise. For instance, it's 4:15pm and it's telling me I still have over 1400 calories to eat. There is no way I will eat this much this late in the day. HELP!!!!
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Replies
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It's best not to make a habit of leaving that many calories on the table daily. That said, if you are not hungry today don't worry about it. Maybe try looking at the whole week instead of each day and if you go over on your calories a couple hundred here or there it's really no big deal.0
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Yes I"m struggling with that too. Your best bet is to go with something healthy yet rich in cals. I cannot recommend avocado enough. Drizzled with a bit of soy sauce - they call that the poor man"s sashimi.
Also a handfull of nuts will do the trick, roasted almonds (no sault) and they are nice to nibble away on whilst watching TV without feeling you have eaten a complete meal.0 -
I struggle with "making" myself eat sometimes but it has gotten much better with time. One thing you can do is have more calorie dense meals earlier in the day. ie...add peanut butter to an apple...have a handful of trailmix etc. Your body needs fuel. It needs the right amount of fuel...not enough gas in the car and your can't function...too much and your have to carry around the extra...keep the right amount in the tank and you are all good0
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Thanks for your help.
And that's the other thing, when I'm physically busy all day I'm just not that hungry. I can't force myself to eat when I'm not hungry.0 -
I don't eat all of my exercise calories, but I have increased my daily calorie goal from 1200 to 1500. I try to always eat at least 1500 calories. If I know I'm going to have a high calorie dinner, I exercise more than if it's going to be a "light" eating day for me. Planning dinner early helps me eat the calories I need to during the day, so I'm not trying to do it all in the evening. My weight loss had stalled until I increased my calories and reduced my exercise.0
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I don't have a heart moniter and don't plan on getting one at the moment but when I do zumba the website says I burn over 900 calories. There is no way I could eat all that unless I filled up on fast food or junk. I use the calories to help me the next day so if I go over a bit I donlt sweat it. So far its working for me.0
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I have this problem a lot too, especially since I'm training for distance races and filling up on voluminous foods like fruits and veggies (low calories but more water= filling). I've found that adding nut butters or things like avocado to my daily meals helps me incorporate more calories without trying to cram them all in toward the end of the day. Plus, sweet potatoes with a little bit of sunflower seed butter taste amazing... almost like a dessert! And I get some healthy fat/protein that keeps my hunger in check for the rest of the day so I don't wind up overeating like crazy.0
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Another option would be to set up your goal by counting exercise into your daily lifestyle. So, instead of "sedentary" or "lightly active", you might be heavily active" (can't remember the exact words MFP uses). So, you would include all your activity in your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and not log exercise into MFP. You would be given a higher number of calories to eat, but not have "exercise calories" to "eat back". This is how other diets work.
MFP is different in that it gives you a target based on doing no planned exercise, and assumes that if you do, you will eat accordingly. Some people prefer to count that planned exercise as their overall TDEE though, and not log the exercise in MFP. To be honest, if cleaning is a normal daily activity for you, then it might make more sense to count it as part of your normal activity level anyway.
Ideally, you need to eat more than you are doing to fuel your activities. It doesn't really matter which method you use to work out how much you need to eat, but you really need to get more than you are doing. Otherwise, the calorie deficit you are setting for yourself is much bigger than recommended by MFP and might not be healthy for you. If your net calorie goal is 1300, for example, today you are netting -100 calories. How can your body keep functioning properly on those kinds of numbers?
You don't have to wait until after you have exercised to eat the food. Knowing that you're going to be burning a lot of cals, you can eat them beforehand. If you're struggling to eat that much, look for calorie-dense foods like full-fat dairy products, nuts, avocados, a bit of extra healthy oils in your cooking etc.0 -
Yes I"m struggling with that too. Your best bet is to go with something healthy yet rich in cals. I cannot recommend avocado enough. Drizzled with a bit of soy sauce - they call that the poor man"s sashimi.
Also a handfull of nuts will do the trick, roasted almonds (no sault) and they are nice to nibble away on whilst watching TV without feeling you have eaten a complete meal.
I love avocados and nuts. Thanks for your help.0 -
I struggle with "making" myself eat sometimes but it has gotten much better with time. One thing you can do is have more calorie dense meals earlier in the day. ie...add peanut butter to an apple...have a handful of trailmix etc. Your body needs fuel. It needs the right amount of fuel...not enough gas in the car and your can't function...too much and your have to carry around the extra...keep the right amount in the tank and you are all good
I love peanut butter, but I can't bring myself to ever eat it because it has sooooo many calories.0 -
It's best not to make a habit of leaving that many calories on the table daily. That said, if you are not hungry today don't worry about it. Maybe try looking at the whole week instead of each day and if you go over on your calories a couple hundred here or there it's really no big deal.
Thanks for your help.0 -
You need to try and eat nett above your BMR (that is taking into account exercise/activity calories). Your body needs a certain amount of fuel to operate efficiently, and a bit more to move on top of that. Try to think of your body as a car - if you don't put enough petrol in you won't get very far! I know it sounds counter-intuitive (intuition says: surely if you eat more, your weight loss will be slower), but this method works! You won't cause too much harm to your system by eating under for a few days, but it is not healthy or sustainable in the long term.
Try to eat lean protein as a first choice after activity to help repair/build muscle - the more muscle you have, the higher your BMR will be anyway, as muscles need fuelling! Complex carbs are good earlier in the day - try to avoid the simple carbs if you can. If you know you are going to have a busy day, eating slightly larger than usual portions of breakfast and lunch can help get your calorie intake up! If you really can't face food, try a shake or smoothie.
You have a mental block on this issue. Try a week of eating the exercise calories back and see what difference it makes to you!0 -
Another option would be to set up your goal by counting exercise into your daily lifestyle. So, instead of "sedentary" or "lightly active", you might be heavily active" (can't remember the exact words MFP uses). So, you would include all your activity in your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and not log exercise into MFP. You would be given a higher number of calories to eat, but not have "exercise calories" to "eat back". This is how other diets work.
MFP is different in that it gives you a target based on doing no planned exercise, and assumes that if you do, you will eat accordingly. Some people prefer to count that planned exercise as their overall TDEE though, and not log the exercise in MFP. To be honest, if cleaning is a normal daily activity for you, then it might make more sense to count it as part of your normal activity level anyway.
Ideally, you need to eat more than you are doing to fuel your activities. It doesn't really matter which method you use to work out how much you need to eat, but you really need to get more than you are doing. Otherwise, the calorie deficit you are setting for yourself is much bigger than recommended by MFP and might not be healthy for you. If your net calorie goal is 1300, for example, today you are netting -100 calories. How can your body keep functioning properly on those kinds of numbers?
You don't have to wait until after you have exercised to eat the food. Knowing that you're going to be burning a lot of cals, you can eat them beforehand. If you're struggling to eat that much, look for calorie-dense foods like full-fat dairy products, nuts, avocados, a bit of extra healthy oils in your cooking etc.
Thanks so much for your help!0 -
You need to try and eat nett above your BMR (that is taking into account exercise/activity calories). Your body needs a certain amount of fuel to operate efficiently, and a bit more to move on top of that. Try to think of your body as a car - if you don't put enough petrol in you won't get very far! I know it sounds counter-intuitive (intuition says: surely if you eat more, your weight loss will be slower), but this method works! You won't cause too much harm to your system by eating under for a few days, but it is not healthy or sustainable in the long term.
Try to eat lean protein as a first choice after activity to help repair/build muscle - the more muscle you have, the higher your BMR will be anyway, as muscles need fuelling! Complex carbs are good earlier in the day - try to avoid the simple carbs if you can. If you know you are going to have a busy day, eating slightly larger than usual portions of breakfast and lunch can help get your calorie intake up! If you really can't face food, try a shake or smoothie.
You have a mental block on this issue. Try a week of eating the exercise calories back and see what difference it makes to you!
Thank you so very much for your help!0 -
I struggle with "making" myself eat sometimes but it has gotten much better with time. One thing you can do is have more calorie dense meals earlier in the day. ie...add peanut butter to an apple...have a handful of trailmix etc. Your body needs fuel. It needs the right amount of fuel...not enough gas in the car and your can't function...too much and your have to carry around the extra...keep the right amount in the tank and you are all good
I love peanut butter, but I can't bring myself to ever eat it because it has sooooo many calories.
This is when I started doing better. When I got over the "so many calories" mindset. Yes it has "so many calories" but you are mentioning that you are not eating enough calories. When I started eating the nut butters or trail mix I was able to get my wonderful calories..which are neither good nor bad...just are ....I don't eat a ton of bread because I would rather spend my calories else where but not because it has so many calories...remember...stalled car or extra red fuel cans...best scenario is a car running on a appropriately filled tank...0 -
I struggle with "making" myself eat sometimes but it has gotten much better with time. One thing you can do is have more calorie dense meals earlier in the day. ie...add peanut butter to an apple...have a handful of trailmix etc. Your body needs fuel. It needs the right amount of fuel...not enough gas in the car and your can't function...too much and your have to carry around the extra...keep the right amount in the tank and you are all good
I love peanut butter, but I can't bring myself to ever eat it because it has sooooo many calories.
This is when I started doing better. When I got over the "so many calories" mindset. Yes it has "so many calories" but you are mentioning that you are not eating enough calories. When I started eating the nut butters or trail mix I was able to get my wonderful calories..which are neither good nor bad...just are ....I don't eat a ton of bread because I would rather spend my calories else where but not because it has so many calories...remember...stalled car or extra red fuel cans...best scenario is a car running on a appropriately filled tank...
You are so right!!!! Thanks!0 -
This probably has nothing to do with the original topic, but you only had coffee creamer for breakfast? No coffee to go with it? I am saying this, because if you aren't counting some of your stuff, not logging it, it may LOOK like you have more calories left over than you do. I am not bashing you or anything, so please don't take that wrong, but you also might want to eat a little more throughout the day. No wonder you have such a high amount left over for the day.0
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I struggle with "making" myself eat sometimes but it has gotten much better with time. One thing you can do is have more calorie dense meals earlier in the day. ie...add peanut butter to an apple...have a handful of trailmix etc. Your body needs fuel. It needs the right amount of fuel...not enough gas in the car and your can't function...too much and your have to carry around the extra...keep the right amount in the tank and you are all good
I love peanut butter, but I can't bring myself to ever eat it because it has sooooo many calories.
Questions:
1. How do you have MFP set? 2 lbs/week loss?
2. How many calories do you usually burn? (edited to add: diary suggests around 600 in exercise, PLUS whatever your body burns to just be alive and walking around for the day.)
3. Any ideas as to your body fat percent? (Do you have a way of measuring it accurately? If so, the calculators on www.fat2fitradio.com are really helpful; still decent guesstimates if you don't know body fat %)
If you're set for 2 lbs/week loss and you're not eating the calories back, you're not doing your weight loss any favors.
If your net calorie intake for the day (calories in - calories burned) is less than what you need for the basics of keeping your body working (Basal Metabolic Rate), you're not doing your weight loss any favors either. But MFP will not set your calorie goal to prevent netting too low. (And for the record, most people who've been eating too little for a while aren't hungry, but that's because they've slowed their metabolism to a crawl.)
There are lots of methods that work, but if you can't make yourself eat exercise calories, then up your daily "regular" allowance and don't eat 'em back.
Examples with math:
Goal of 0.5 lb/week weight loss = 250 calorie deficit set by MFP
Exercise calories burned daily: 600
Total daily deficit: 850 (100 more than setting MFP for 1.5 lbs/week)
If your average net calories for this is above your basal metabolic rate, you'll feel satisfied and you'll drop steadily.0 -
I REALLY, REALLY think a lot of people of MFP make this whole losing weight thing to complicated. By and large, the larger the difference between the calories you take in and the calories you burn, the larger your weight loss is going to be. The change in your metabolism from eating "too few" calories is really negligble. Starvation mode doesn't happen until you're sitting at a negative net calorie intake over a long period of time. So...don't sweat it.
If I've eaten healthfully...had a few servings of protein, eating 3 servings of vegetables, eaten whole grains...I don't eat them back unless I'm hungry.
If I go to bed full but have a 500-800 net calorie deficit, I don't worry about. I am especially okay with this because we all tend to underestimate the number of calories we eat and overestimate the number of calories we burn, so the real deficit is likely smaller than what MFP is telling you.
That said, if I am sitting at a 800+ calorie deficit at the end of the day, but not feeling particularly hungry...those are the days that I like to have a small bowl of ice cream before bed.0 -
I don't ever try to eat what I have gained in working out. I just figure then I can eat what I want and not have to worry about it.0
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There's no problem not eating back your exercise calories once in a while. I wouldn't recommend doing it every single day. Planning ahead works for me. I know I'm going to burn about 300 calories on a 3 mile run I'll do in the evening, so I spread out those 300 calories throughout the day. I don't sit down AFTER I exercise I scarf down 300 calories - ever. Eating the calories in advance also forces me to actually do the exercise!!0
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This probably has nothing to do with the original topic, but you only had coffee creamer for breakfast? No coffee to go with it? I am saying this, because if you aren't counting some of your stuff, not logging it, it may LOOK like you have more calories left over than you do. I am not bashing you or anything, so please don't take that wrong, but you also might want to eat a little more throughout the day. No wonder you have such a high amount left over for the day.
I didn't know coffee had calories.
I usually eat more than I did today, but when I'm physically busy all day such as I was today, it makes me not hungry, and I can't eat when I'm not hungry. Todays food intake was not a normal day for me. But even when I'm eating "normally" I can't bring myself to eat the extra calories I get from exercise.0 -
to be honest, i've stopped worrying about exercise calories. I eat (healthily) when im hungry, work out when i can and log to keep myself accountable...like a poster above said, we make things too complicated sometimes0
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I REALLY, REALLY think a lot of people of MFP make this whole losing weight thing to complicated. By and large, the larger the difference between the calories you take in and the calories you burn, the larger your weight loss is going to be. The change in your metabolism from eating "too few" calories is really negligble. Starvation mode doesn't happen until you're sitting at a negative net calorie intake over a long period of time. So...don't sweat it.
If I've eaten healthfully...had a few servings of protein, eating 3 servings of vegetables, eaten whole grains...I don't eat them back unless I'm hungry.
If I go to bed full but have a 500-800 net calorie deficit, I don't worry about. I am especially okay with this because we all tend to underestimate the number of calories we eat and overestimate the number of calories we burn, so the real deficit is likely smaller than what MFP is telling you.
That said, if I am sitting at a 800+ calorie deficit at the end of the day, but not feeling particularly hungry...those are the days that I like to have a small bowl of ice cream before bed.
I couldn't agree more that people sometimes make it more complicated than it really is. Simply....I always thought that if you burn more than you take in you will lose. Thanks so much for your input!0 -
I just started training for distance running (well, a half marathon, so not too much distance). Anyway, also do mixed cardio/weights at least 2-3 days a week, so am working out at least 5 days. I have never thought about eating any of my exercise calories back until I started reading these boards as it seems counter productive. I was wondering, has adding some back helped your running?I have this problem a lot too, especially since I'm training for distance races and filling up on voluminous foods like fruits and veggies (low calories but more water= filling). I've found that adding nut butters or things like avocado to my daily meals helps me incorporate more calories without trying to cram them all in toward the end of the day. Plus, sweet potatoes with a little bit of sunflower seed butter taste amazing... almost like a dessert! And I get some healthy fat/protein that keeps my hunger in check for the rest of the day so I don't wind up overeating like crazy.0 -
I'm confused. I was doing some research and the majority of what I was reading indicated that eating exercise calories is counter productive unless you exercise for more than 1 hour in the day. What am I missing? Is that why I cannot lose any weight? :ohwell:0
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I actually just looked back at my profile, and it takes into account my exercise and is still telling me that if I exercise and hour 5x weekly, I should only be eating 1200 calories a day. So, is seems that I shouldn't be eating back any of my exercise calories. Am I missing something?
I'm 5'4", medium build and hoping to lose about 1-1.5 pounds a week over the next 2 months to hit my goal of 134 lbs.0 -
I actually just looked back at my profile, and it takes into account my exercise and is still telling me that if I exercise and hour 5x weekly, I should only be eating 1200 calories a day. So, is seems that I shouldn't be eating back any of my exercise calories. Am I missing something?
I'm 5'4", medium build and hoping to lose about 1-1.5 pounds a week over the next 2 months to hit my goal of 134 lbs.
Did you tell MFP that you're "active" when you set your goals? If so, then MFP does include your exercise in its calculations, and you shouldn't eat back your exercise calories. (Of course, if you have a pretty active job AND you work out 5 days a week, you might want to tell it that you're "very active".)
If you just put in fitness goals where it asks for them, though, those are NOT included in the MFP math. They're just so you can track your progress toward those goals.
The way MFP is set up is to estimate your calorie needs based on your regular daily activity, and then subtract calories from that "maintenance" number to give you a calorie goal. The reason it tells you to eat your exercise calories back is so that you're keeping your daily calorie deficit at the same level. (Example: if you tell it you want to lose 1.5 lbs/week, it will tell you to eat 750 fewer calories every day than it thinks you need to maintain your current weight. If you burn 500 calories in exercise, that increases your calorie deficit for the day to 1250, which is more than 2 lbs/week loss if you did that every day. So it tells you to eat 500 more calories, to keep the calorie deficit at 750.)0 -
I actually just looked back at my profile, and it takes into account my exercise and is still telling me that if I exercise and hour 5x weekly, I should only be eating 1200 calories a day. So, is seems that I shouldn't be eating back any of my exercise calories. Am I missing something?
I'm 5'4", medium build and hoping to lose about 1-1.5 pounds a week over the next 2 months to hit my goal of 134 lbs.
Did you tell MFP that you're "active" when you set your goals? If so, then MFP does include your exercise in its calculations, and you shouldn't eat back your exercise calories. (Of course, if you have a pretty active job AND you work out 5 days a week, you might want to tell it that you're "very active".)
If you just put in fitness goals where it asks for them, though, those are NOT included in the MFP math. They're just so you can track your progress toward those goals.
The way MFP is set up is to estimate your calorie needs based on your regular daily activity, and then subtract calories from that "maintenance" number to give you a calorie goal. The reason it tells you to eat your exercise calories back is so that you're keeping your daily calorie deficit at the same level. (Example: if you tell it you want to lose 1.5 lbs/week, it will tell you to eat 750 fewer calories every day than it thinks you need to maintain your current weight. If you burn 500 calories in exercise, that increases your calorie deficit for the day to 1250, which is more than 2 lbs/week loss if you did that every day. So it tells you to eat 500 more calories, to keep the calorie deficit at 750.)
This makes so much sense, thank you. As I was rethinking this over the weekend, I figured something along the lines of what you were saying. Especially since MFP visibly increases your calorie allotment for the day when you add in the workouts. Since I only marked "moderately active" or something like that, I didn't account for any of my work outs. Thanks again!0
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